


Capital B...Bad Mission

by BreathDeeply578



Category: Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29797668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreathDeeply578/pseuds/BreathDeeply578
Summary: A story told from three points of view.After a mission goes a-stray the boys try to find comfort in each other.
Relationships: Bart Allen/Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Kudos: 8





	Capital B...Bad Mission

It was 3am and honestly, they should be sleeping. Cass had gone to sleep right after debriefing with Tornado, she had probably had the right idea. He had silently checked on her a few moments ago and she seemed peaceful. She had been thrown around a bit and was probably as exhausted as him, if not more.

But even with the lateness of the hour, and the brutally of the battel he finds Imp and Rob on the couch in the living room. Well he supposes they are out of uniform (and he had finally learned Robs true name) so they where just Bart and Tim now. Curled on the couch, close but not touching, silently staring at the TV. Kon did not think they were watching the show they had put on.

He hears the bars to the show’s opening and he barely suppresses the groan. Look, if he was being honest with himself, he liked Star Vs. the Forces of Evil. It wouldn’t do much for his street cred, or help him with the ladies, but he had really liked the show.

(If he was being honest with himself again, lately, he cared less about landing babes, and more about the two boys sitting on the couch right in front of him. But he wasn’t in the mood to contemplate what that all meant right now)

But no matter his feeling for the show at first, it had definitely worn out its welcome. As Bart’s favorite show whenever it was his turn to pick there was no chance of it being anything other than Star.

He wants to leave, go back to his bed. There is no reason to stay up, no reason to watch this show for the hundredth time. Something seems to be sticking his feet to the floor at the sight of both Bart and Tim, sitting on the couch, being dwarfed by the large sleep wear they are wearing. Bart in baggy sweatpants Kon was fairly sure were hand me downs from Barry and a My little Pony hoodie that was about three sizes too large and Kon had not the faintest idea of its origins. Tim wearing black tights, he was always more comfortable in his monkey suit then rest of the team, preferring tights even when he was in his civvies, and huh… was that’s Kon flannel layered over Tim’s t-shirt?

Kon should feel irritated, instead he just feels warm. The sight makes him so god damn warm and he can’t just turn away from it and leave. Except, of course they need a blanket. The two idiots on the couch seem to have forgot the two most important aspects of “Cuddle in the dead of night and not speak about it again” time, the blanket and you know… actually cuddling.

Sighing he leaves the living room, finally, to head back to his room. Only to grab his comforter and head back down towards the living room. He is walking slow and a little stiff, shuffling along with his blanket that will cover the three of them easily, you know, once they were sitting close together like they normally did.

Entering the living room, he shuffles on right between the boys and the TV blocking their view. The lack of indigent sqwalk tells him what he already expected, they weren’t watching the show. Tim side eyes him, but he is otherwise unmovable. Bart doesn’t even acknowledge his presence. The remote is in front of Tim, and Kon notices with relief that this isn’t one of Bart’s favorite episodes. In fact, this isn’t off of his favorite season. Kon doesn’t think he’s seen this episode since that first watch through.

Tim put this on, for Bart. Because it had been a capital B Bad mission. Like lost civilian life, bad mission. Loss of civilian life leads to an assortment of different reactions from the team. Red Tornado always tells them it’s not them who had killed the civilians, and it hadn’t been. The Riddler had been the one that had gone and blown up all those buildings…. But the team always carried it with them anyway.

And Bart always seemed to take the lose so hard, noticeably closing off, getting a scary far off look.

Kon kind of got it. He would never in a million years blame Bart for this, if anything, it was his fault, he hadn’t been able to keep the rumble from tumbling long enough. But Bart was the one that couldn’t reach the people in time. He wouldn’t think about how he had saved 30 people that had been in the building in under two seconds, a personal best. Kon knew he was carrying at least three people per trip at a time, pushing his limits to save them. It hadn’t been enough. People had lost their lives despite their best efforts.

Tim as team leader would assume everything was his fault and wear that burden silently. Only people who knew him well, Kon consider himself on of the lucky few, would be able to see the way it weighted on him. Tim would focus all his energy on Bart until his storm had passed. After he would train harder, pushing himself to the brink. Until finally Kon would go to him and demand he sleep and eat.

Kon would push it all down and focus his energy of taking care of these two idiots.

Like he was now, sitting down on the other side of Bart, trying to throw the blanket over all three of them. He somehow looked even smaller then normal in this moment.

Fuck, this was a bad one.

Normally Bart would be the one to bridge the gap between the three when cuddling. He didn’t restrain himself the way Kon and Tim did, throwing his limbs out with little concern where they landed as he chatted happily.

Now though he stayed silent and still.

Tim if possible, was even more emotionally closed off and awkward then Kon himself. It made since once they learned of his origin story. His parents had been rich and trapped around the world leaving him alone for huge spans of time. Then they had been killed, leaving him with Batman. And Kon knew that man was as emotionally closed off as they come. Tim had never learned how to reach out to another person to comfort, or god forbid ask for comfort.

He was a mess, but he was Kon’s mess.

So, tonight the task of reaching out and bridging the gap between them was landing on Kon’s broad and uncomfortable shoulders.

He reached out with his TTK and wrapped it softly around Tim’s waist. Tim’s breath noticeably hitched and Kon felt himself flush, but he soldered on. Pulling Tim towards Bart, as he himself skootched closer, sandwiching Bart in a tight group.

With his body pressed and pushed up against Kon’s, Bart finally seems to come out of his daze a little. Looking up and giving Kon a soft smile before he rests his head on his bicep, cuddling down deeper into the blankets. Based on Tim’s blushing Kon hypothesis that Bart reached out to take Tim’s hand.

With Bart settled and holding Tim’s hand Kon knows he can let go of Tim with his TTK, Tim isn’t going anywhere now, but he doesn’t. Instead he keeps it there, as a warm pressure against Tim’s hip. Not really his own hand, but close.

Then because, fuck it, he’s already there, he decided to do one better and lifts his arm (Bart easily cuddles into his side) and reaches his hand across the back of the couch, his fingers landing near Tim’s neck. Taking a deep breath, wondering how much he is pushing his luck here, he reaches out that last final inch and runs his fingers overs the skin on Tim’s collarbone gently.

Tim sighs.

When after the briefing Cassandra had left for bed and Kon had mumbled something and stocked off Tim expected that the task of handling Bart, would be left to him.

Bart seemed so empty. His eyes glazed and basically non-responsive, even to Red. Tim would be more worried about his brain if this hadn’t already happened a few times. At first Tim had scanned his brain, only to find it completely functioning. Slowly Bart would pull himself out of whatever dark places his mind went in those moments. Tim as leader considered it his responsibility to help him through it.

So, guiding Bart’s movements he had gotten Bart out of his suit and into something soft and warm. Then after a quick costume change himself, he leads Bart into the common room. But it’s too quiet and dark in the room. Tim finds it unnerving and though Bart is currently checked out, he would find it unnerving too. So, he sits him down on the couch and turns on the only show that can always make Bart smile, Star.

Turning his head, he sees Kon’s flannel on the arm of the chair. He suddenly feels cold, and bare in only his t-shirt. He tries not to think about how Kon might react if he sees him wearing this (either weirded out, angry or cocky) as he slides the flannel on over his shirt. Kon is in bed anyway.

The smell of fresh farm air, Ma and Pa Kent’s laundry detergent and something that can only be explained as Kon fills his nostrils as he settles into his seat next to Bart.

Bart is unmoved. His sweet Bart is hurting, and Tim is powerless to stop it. He should have known how to stop that bomb form going off, he should have gotten the team there faster. He feels the weight of his failures as he looks at Bart and sees the pain shinning there. He had put that there; he had put Bart in a position where he had not been able to save everyone. Bart had literally felt people slip through his fingers at super speed, triggering whatever Bart was experiencing, and it had been all Tim’s fault.

He could scream if he wasn’t worried about waking up his two sleeping teammates.

Scratch that, one sleeping teammate, Tim corrects as he sees Kon shuffle by, blanket in hand.

Tim follows the progression with his eyes but doesn’t have it in him to try and reach out to Kon. He isn’t even sure why Kon was here.

The blanket lands softly on half his lap. He keeps looking ahead.

Then Kon’s TTK wraps around his waist and his breath feels stuck in his throat. While his heart decided to ramp up to a thousand beats per minute, something he is sure Kon’s super hearing will detect.

Then Kon is tugging Tim closer to Bart’s side, sandwiching him between the two of them, and suddenly Bart is back with them. Softer and more subdued than he would normally be, but lucid.

Tim notes that for future reference, physical affection has a positive effect. Tim had wanted to avoiding crowding and touching Bart more than necessary worried it would further upset him. Apparently that line of thinking had been wrong, which he should have considered since it was Bart they were talking about here. Another way he failed him today.

Bart shifted throwing the blanked up and over the remainder of Tim’s lap. Tim had thought the shuffling had ended and settled when he felt Bart’s small, soft and warm hand slip into his. Then, in a move so heart-stoppingly sweet and tender, Bart interlaced their fingers, giving Tim’s hand a soft squeeze.

Tim hadn’t truly realized how touched starved he was until Bart started breaking down his barriers, only to dole out physical affection like it was nothing, like it didn’t make Tim feel whole and loved and wanted for the first time in his young and tragic life. Bart held on to him like he wasn’t a Jason Todd replacement.

A small shift on the couch had drawn Tim out of his thoughts as he noticed Bart effortlessly wiggle his way into Kon’s side, resting his head on his chest and sighing contently. His hand didn’t loosen his grip on Tim’s hand in the slightest, not that Tim would have blamed Bart if he had. If had wanted to let go and wrap his arms around Kon’s strong and steady chest feeling safe and warm and protected, Tim would have understood. Bart needed that; he deserved the love that Kon was offering to him freely. Unlike Tim who hadn’t even thought of simply hugging Bart to make him feel better.

Tim almost let go of Bart’s hand to save him the trouble, almost, but he found he couldn’t be quite that selfless.

Kon had thrown his arm along the back of the couch and now his hand was resting awfully close to the juncture of Tim’s neck and shoulder. He could feel the heat from Kon’s fingers and he thought his attention was more drawn to the hand not touching him then it would have been if the hand actually had touched him.

He was instantly proven wrong when he felt Kon’s finger skim the skin on his collar bone softly, timidly.

He couldn’t hold back the soft and content sigh that escaped him at the touch.

Bart doesn’t really remember how he got here, last he remembers he had been helping search the rubble for bodies. He had felt like it was the least he could do after he wasn’t fast enough to save them, but then when he had climbed into the cycle, feeling as heavy as he has ever felt, his memory fogs.

He can distantly hear screams and cries of those lost, he isn’t sure if they are from the current mission, or a distant future, that is now his past, but they fill his mind and cloud his brain.

Then pressure, pushing up against him on both sides, and suddenly he’s home. Right where he belongs, besides Tim and Kon. His Rob and Supes, a dream team if there ever was one.

Tim is still stiff and unsure, so he hasn’t melted into the contact yet. Bart reaches out a hand to him slowly, seeing if he will pull away. He doesn’t. Feeling bold, or probably just needy, Bart interlaces their fingers. Feeling his hand locked and secured in Tim’s.

When Tim sighs Bart side eyes him, not wanting to move his head from its spot against Kon’s chest and sees Kon running a finger back and forth on his collarbone.

Good. These two idiots always need Bart to bridge the divide but once he did, it was all soft cuddles and smiles and voices, shared between the three deep into the night.

Bart wants to bring this into the light of day, to examine and expanded upon it. But for right now this is okay. He is back home with his boys and for tonight it’s enough.


End file.
